Hola amigo Bigscoop (and everyone, plus our smart-aleck Don Jose, aka Tropical Tramp),
I am sorry to hear about how things are for you and your family, you are obviously from the "old school" and don't believe in just dumping our parents. I agree with your outlook on this 100% and it says a lot about you, that you are willing to help in what may be the hardest part of life.
I wouldn't put Indiana at the
very bottom of the treasure hunters lists, just think what it would be like to live somewhere that it is completely illegal to metal detect or even dig, like some European countries. So even though they may have fantastic lost treasures, they may as well be on the Moon and will slowly dissolve into the environment so no one will ever see them.
Indiana probably has a lot of small town carnivals in the summers, no? Beth & I have had some pretty good luck with carnival grounds, rodeo grounds and fairgrounds. Even little county fairs sometimes have a history of over 100 years. A lot of people won't believe it, but Beth & I got over eight pounds of silver from one little fairgrounds, and it had been "combed over" by several other detectorists - we were even told not to waste our time on it! You won't 'strike it rich' but it is excellent practice and with a little luck, profitable.
Now to get to the 'real meat' - large treasures in Indiana. It is not my 'area of expertise' but just a quick check in the US Treasure Atlas, Vol 4, we find there are some that might just light your fire a little bit.
#2 A shipment of silver bars captured from the CSA in NC by Union troops was buried near Griffith and has never been recovered. A good source to track this one down is the Official Record of the Civil War which is online at
http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/waro.html
...also check with local Historical Societies to locate Civil War encampments, with an eye to any which were near Griffith and the end of the war.
#7A Big Jim Colosimo was a gang leader in Chicago dealing in bootlegging operations and prostitution. He was fascinated by diamonds and carried pockets full wherever he went. When he met a new passion, a showgirl named Dale Winter, he claimed that he no longer needed the accumulated gems and buried them "outside Crown Point". Rival gang leader Johnny Torrio had Colosimo liquidated in typical gangland style and the hoard of diamonds, worth an estimated $800,000 at the time, <1920> went unrecovered.
A thorough search of the Chicago newspaper archives will turn up some leads on this one, and a visit to the county courthouse in Crown Point (for Lake County) to look for landowner records of the surrounding lands - and be sure to look for property in the name of his paramour Dale Winter, as it is possible that he did not put it in his own name but used hers. Here is a site with links to many online free newspaper archives
http://xooxleanswers.com/newspaperarchives4.aspx
Wiki article on Colosimo (says he was not involved in bootlegging and this was the cause of his being rubbed out)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Colosimo
Excellent article on Colosimo with photos
http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id50.htm
#88D In 1791 Arthur St Clair led 2000 US troops into battle with the Indians that ended in disaster, over 600 soldiers dead and scores more wounded; As the army fled the battlefield, they left their guns, cannons and equipment behind. Some of the men took the time to bury their valuables hoping to return and recover them, but they didn't. St Clair ordered the payroll (which had not yet been paid) to be buried before abandoning the field, and likewise this has never been recovered. The battle took place near Ft Wayne.
Good article on the battle
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=557
Wiki article on St Clair's Defeat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair's_Defeat
This is barely scratching the surface - Indiana has LOTS of great lost treasures, just have to take the time to do the research. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many supposedly "mythical" or "made up" lost treasures are factual, including right in your own back yard. There is a tremendous amount of history that just never made it into the history books - Beth & I even found a stone fort that dated to the Rev war period, <in PA> which was not listed or even mentioned in any of the 'conventional' history books, only word of mouth from the people who lived in the area. Indiana has a lot of history, and during those centuries a lot of treasure has gotten lost there. I highly recommend picking up a copy of the United States Treasure Atlas Vol 4, by Thomas P. Terry; it will give you a lot of leads to track down.
Specialty Publishing Company
PO Box 1355
Lacrosse, Wisconsin 54602
I don't know about how much gold there is to find in Indiana, I think that most gold there is 'glacial' in origins, which means brought there by glaciers from elsewhere, but still even so, some nice nuggets have been found there. To hunt glacial gold, you will need good maps of the 'terminal moraines' and try to metal detect right along the very tops of the moraines - for some reason the nuggets end up there, or detect along the gullies that have cut into the moraines. Here is a good map showing where to find these glacial moraines
http://igs.indiana.edu/geology/maps/historic/indGlacial.cfm
....you might have better luck just using a gold pan or sluice however, for some of the gold will be fine (down to flour size) and in nature only 2% of gold occurs in the form of nuggets. You might also find this pamphlet helpful for finding Indiana gold (*and diamonds)
http://igs.indiana.edu/survey/bookstore/bookstoredetail.cfm?Pub_Num=C12
<from the intro paragraph>
"
Most people do not think of the Midwest as an area in which either gold or diamonds are found. The mention of gold usually brings to mind a grizzled old prospector up a gulch on a lonely mountain in Colorado or a team of gold seekers along Bear Creek near Dawson, Alaska. Indiana gold, although not plentiful, has been found in sufficient quantities mostly along streams in Morgan and Brown Counties to keep interest in recovering the yellow metal alive for more than 135 years."
You might start looking at Indiana differently once you start finding some of that yellow metal or DIAMONDS!
Good luck and good hunting amigo, I wish you well in your efforts to be helpful to your parents and you can be sure that they appreciate it; I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Roy ~
Oroblanco
